Posts Tagged ‘2010 World Championships’

The men’s finals showcased the specialists on each apparatus, and indeed none of the winners even participated in the all-around final. The results didn’t change much from the qualification round to the finals; vault champion Thomas Bouhail of France was the only one who did not enter the final as the leader.

Eleftherios Kosmidis stuck both his opening layout double-double and his full-in dismount on his way to the top of the podium. He managed to stave off recently crowned all-around champion Kohei Uchimura, who suffered from low landings in this final. Greek fans will find this win reminiscent of Ioannis Melissanidis’s winning performance at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Krisztian Berki took advantage of the absence of Chinese superstars Xiao Qin and Zhang Hongtao to claim his first World title on his specialty. His routine starts off right with some scissors that demonstrate tremendous amplitude, accentuated by his long lines.

Chen Yibing’s medal collection just keeps growing! The 2008 Olympic Champ on rings claimed his third World title in Rotterdam. His lines, toepoint and flaired full-twisting double layout sealed the deal for this veteran.

Thomas Bouhail managed to upstage prelims leader Anton Golotsutskov (RUS) when it mattered most, and ended up with his first title at a World Championships. The Frenchman was no stranger to the international scene, having won the silver medal on the same apparatus at the 2008 Olympic Games and the gold medal at last year’s European Championships. He landed his opening piked double Tsukahara with just a hop, and came close to sticking his Dragulescu.

Feng Zhe performed his three double backs and high straddled front well, but it was the solid double pike dismount and his 7.0 D-score that really earned him the gold in what turned out to be one of the most competitive finals of the Championships.

Zhang Chenglong flew high above the bar with his layout Tkatchev, straddled Tkatchev-half, layout Jaeger, Yamawaki and layout double-double dismount. The releases, in addition to his pirouetting skills, allowed Zhang to grab the gold over Epke Zonderland, who retained his silver medal position from last year’s Worlds. Zonderland displayed a difficult set with a Kovacs-Kolman combination, a Gaylord 2 and a Yamawaki and a nice stuck layout double double.

Four different gymnasts were awarded the gold medals during the women’s apparatus finals of the 2010 World Championships, held in Rotterdam last month. All-around queen Aliya Mustafina didn’t win any gold medals in finals, but she did come away from these World Championships with five medals in all and bragging rights as the only Russian lady to claim a medal after their shared team gold.

Alicia Sacramone won her first vault title, bringing her total number of World medals to nine. Nine medals is the record for most won by an American, and Sacramone’s gold puts her in a tie for first with Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin. She demonstrated explosive power and good form on her layout Rudi and Yurchenko double full, and her 15.200 average put her ahead of all-around champion Aliya Mustafina, who experienced some judging controversy in this event final. It seems she wasn’t given credit for the layout position for her Yurchenko half-on layout front full. The Russian Federation rightly complained that it can’t be downgraded to a pike position since the FIG itself acknowledged that it’s impossible to do more than a half twist in a pike, and that this particular vault does not exist in the pike position. The silver medal here ended any hope that Mustafina could sweep all the gold at this World Championships. Missing from this World Championships was vaulter extraordinaire Hong Su Jong, who was embroiled in a controversy of her own after being registered to compete with yet a third different birth year. The North Korean delegation has been banned from competition through to 2013, leaving certain event finals without some serious contenders.

Beth Tweddle earned another World title on the uneven bars with her high-flying routine that included a toe-on Tkatchev-half immediate barani to the low bar. It was an amazing day for Great Britain. In addition to Tweddle’s gold, the country also celebrated Louis Smith’s silver on pommel horse and Daniel Purvis’s bronze on the floor exercise. Tweddle held off He Kexin and Huang Qiushuang, both of whom dropped to the mat and out of medal contention.

Ana Porgras nailed her delightful beam routine for Romania’s first medal at the Championships, despite the fact that some her most interesting choreography has been removed. Mustafina ruined her chance for six medals with a fall on her standing Arabian. Ukraine’s only female finalist, Yana Demyanchuk, was on track for a great routine (awesome roundoff-full and full turn with leg at horizontal…with a flexed foot!) before stumbling backward on her double pike dismount.

What a wonderful way to end the World Championships! Lauren Mitchell improved upon her silver medal at last year’s Worlds to win the gold this time. Using the same music, Mitchell stuck her tumbling passes (Arabian double front to leap, piked full-in, 2.5-twist to front layout to scale, double pike, and of course that really cool triple turn down low). Mustafina showed her lovely routine for the fourth time in Rotterdam, but unfortunately she didn’t go for the triple turn with leg at vertical so it will not be named after her this time. Two favourites, Sandra Izbasa (ROM) and Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS), both had a disappointing time in Rotterdam. Izbasa lost valuable points after landing out of bounds after her amazing 1.5-twist through to triple twist, and Afanasyeva put her knee down on her opening double layout and both hands down on her closing double pike.